Pulsus Product Family

Products

Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD)

Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is a very versatile thin film deposition technology that has the ability to deposit a wide range of advanced thin film materials. With today’s market demand for enhanced and new material systems, PLD enables layers that cannot practically be deposited by conventional technologies like PVD reactive sputtering.

This deposition solution enables more advanced device design and is driving the next generation of RF filters for 5G, WiFi 6 and 6E, high-end MEMS microphones and other MEMS applications. PLD technology is in continuous development to meet market demand for new material systems, for applications such as AR/VR and quantum computing. As a leader in the semiconductor industry, we are accelerating the pace of innovation through engineering excellence to help chip-makers create the Specialty Technologies that shape our world today.

Industry Challenges

The diverse range of applications in Specialty Technologies requires the processing of emerging materials. One such material is aluminum scandium nitride (AlScN) with high scandium content. With the growth of the 5G market, the need for higher frequency band filters is creating challenges for existing high-volume production technologies. To address these challenging requirements, a very versatile thin film deposition technology is required to enable more advanced device design. Lam’s Pulsus^™ PLD products enable mass production of ≥ 40% AlScN films.

RF filters play a critical role in 5G and WiFi 6 performance by increasing the number of users a network can handle while also increasing each user’s speed. The high scandium content of the film improves the RF filter performance by enhancing the mechanical coupling coefficient.
MEMS microphones are valued for a high signal-to-noise ratio that allows them to capture even muffled sounds accurately — essential for voice control features and noise cancellation in 5G-enabled devices. The high scandium content of the film improves the signal to noise ratio via a combined enhancement of piezo performance (e31,f) and dielectric loss (tan d).

Key Customer Benefits

Versatility to deposit complex materials, especially ceramics such as AlScN
Superior film quality, including high piezoelectric performance with low dielectric losses
Advanced film control, such as WiW uniformity tuning of film thickness and stress
Leveraging existing installed base of 2300^® transport modules, creating a synergy with other Lam products such as etch

Product Offerings

Pulsus^™

Key Applications

AlScN layers for RF MEMS, MEMS microphones, piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (PMUT’s), microspeakers